


Anathema by Any Other Name

by AetherBunny



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Cute, Domestic Fluff, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Nicknames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 04:03:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19899526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherBunny/pseuds/AetherBunny
Summary: "I can't in good conscience call you Anathema, not anymore.""What's that supposed to mean? That's my name?""I looked it up."Newt discovers what anathema means and promptly decides Anathema needs a nickname.





	Anathema by Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> Read into their relationship whatever you'd like.
> 
> You can now visit me on a sideblog on tumblr as Aetherbunny of course. I'm still sort of setting it up and deciding how I want to maintain it. But feel free to say hello! or ask questions or perhaps buy me a kof fi if you know what I mean?

The discussion had started when Newt had called her Annie. They had been going through the papers to find anything unusual. They didn't really have to, but old habits were hard to break. That and it was sort of fun, and even more sort of fun to do it with somebody who _understood_.

  
"Pass me that folded one would you Annie?" It had made the young woman pause and turn with a very suspicious glare.

  
"Annie?" She repeated putting down the newspaper.

  
"Yeah do you like it?"

  
"Why?" She avoided answering.

  
"I can't in good conscience call you Anathema, not anymore."

  
"What's that supposed to mean? That's my name?"

  
"I looked it up."

  
"On a computer?" He nodded. Well it must have been important to him if he risked electronics.

  
"And what did you find out?"

  
"It means something nobody likes! No offense to your mother, but why would you name a child _something nobody likes_!" He made air quotations.

  
"That's just how we're named in my family?" Anathema saw nothing wrong with it. She was used to it by now. Not that she was going to have kids to carry on the tradition.

  
"Well, do you have a nickname or something I could call you?"

  
"No."

  
"Can I give you a nickname?"

  
"WHY Newt?"

  
"Because I LIKE you!" He very nearly shouted.

  
"You like me?"

  
"YES!" He did shout that time.

  
"It's not because we had sex once is it?"

  
"No!"

  
"You don't want to have sex again do you?"

  
"Not if you don't want to, but that's not related to this!"

  
"Why then?"

  
"Because you're cool and smart and I want to hang around you and listen to you talk about witchy stuff or whatever. You're my friend. I can't remember the last time I made a friend!" Anathema just stared. "I don't want to keep calling you _something I don't like_. I mean, I will if you want me to, because I like you. But -" He shrugged.

  
"That's... very sweet Newt." Anathema couldn't recall if anybody had ever said they liked her, let alone multiple times to her face.

  
"You can call me something else if you want to make it even. Because I'm you're friend I hope."

  
"Yes, yes you are. You're my friend." She added very quickly. "I don't know what I'd call you?"

  
"Yeah, Newt is already sort of a nickname. And a slimy little lizard."

  
"Amphibian."

  
"That's even longer than Newton."

  
"Newts are amphibians."

  
"Oh, yes, right. See I just learned something." Newt nodded and turned the page of the paper he wasn't paying much attention to. He didn't want to overwhelm her. Across the table Anathema thought, and it didn't take long for an idea to come to her.

  
"You know, there's a word for things that hang around witches. Most of the time it's critters or little creepy crawlies. And you're not any one of those things, but I think I like it."

  
"Alright, nickname me then!" He held his arms out ready for his metaphorical gift.

"Familiar."

  
"I don't know if it is you haven't told me what it was?"

  
"A familiar is like a cat, or raven, or _newt_ that hangs around and helps out with witchy things. So you'd be my Familiar."

  
"Familiar? I like it. It sounds nice. Alright Annie, I'm your Familiar. You're stuck with me now!"

  
"Yes, yes. But only _Annie_ , and only _you_ , got it?"

  
"Deal!"

  
So the Witch of Jasmine Cottage and her new Familiar went back to checking the local papers for any sort of general weirdness they could poke fun at for the rest of the afternoon.


End file.
